Christmas, After All
by Born-Of-Elven-Blood
Summary: fluff! Kagome needs to go home for Christmas, so she skips out during the night; can her three friends and a little mistletoe bring Kagome and InuYasha together? it is Christmas, after all :


A/N: This is basically your run of the mill fluff..I heard it likened to a trashy romance novel, if that floats your boat.no fighting or action whatsoever, but plenty of feelings and kissing, so have fun! Don't hate me, its my first InuYasha fic, hopefully the next one will be a bit more action packed. Until then, enjoy the fluff :)  
  
Disclaimer: InuYasha plot and characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, although, if you ask me, she shouldn't get them, seeing as how she's mistreating them. After all, she lopped off Sesshy's arm and brought claymation Kikiyo back from hell..but I digress...  
  
bcenterCHRISTMAS, AFTER ALL  
  
Kagome sighed quietly as she tiptoed over the sleeping forms of her friends. Shippo flipped over onto his stomach, but kept on snoring. Sango's arm had draped itself unknowingly over the sleeping monk, whose lips were upturned in a dreamy little smile. She had to stifle a giggle. In the morning, accusations would fly and poor Miroku would probably end up with a concussion, for the stoic Sango would never let it be said that she had cuddled up, knowingly or not, to the lecherous houshi. Kaede slept like a stone, her back to the room.  
  
Now came the hardest part of this little caper. After leaving a carefully worded note in plain sight, she slipped out of Kaede's hut, careful not to rustle the bamboo stalks that made up the door curtain and looked up. There, curled up on one of the higher branches of a tree just outside, cradling the Tetsusaiga, was InuYasha himself. All she had to do was get by him and she was home free.  
  
Against her better judgement, she stopped in her mad dash escape, pausing to look up at him. A gentle breeze played with her dark tresses and she smiled, watching the same breeze blowing fine silky silver over the hanyou's boyish face, which contrasted with and complimented his hardened, manly body that was obscured by red fire rat fur. She released a little sigh as a herd of butterflies took flight inside her, then nearly shrieked in surprise when said hanyou yawned, mumbled something incomprehensible and shifted on the branch.  
  
Kagome let out a small breath of relief. If InuYasha caught her, she'd never get home in time. She felt a little guilty for leaving him right now. Tossing a glance back over her shoulder as she set off towards the well, she remembered the scene earlier that day.  
  
~*~  
  
"Wow, what are those?" Shippo drooled, ogling the shiny packages with wonder and a little childish greed, "Are they for me?"  
  
Kagome just smiled. "One of them is," she assured the little kitsune as she dumped the armload of gifts she'd just carried from the well on the floor of Kaede's hut, earning everyone's attention.  
  
"Ah, there you are, Lady Kagome," Miroku greeted, eyeing her jeans with mild disappointment, "And you are dressed more...discreetly..than usual."  
  
"Yeah, it's a really cold day out in my time," Kagome conceded just as a red and silver hurricane came storming into the hut.  
  
"Where in all the hells have you been, Kagome?" InuYasha demanded, grabbing Kagome by the arm. He'd learned that she was less likely to say the "s" word if she was close to him. He assumed this was out of a healthy fear of being pinned between hard dirt and a hanyou falling at roughly the speed of death. He was completely oblivious to the real reason: when he drew her close, all thoughts fled her and it was all she could do to respond intelligently at all. But she'd be damned before she let him know that, so, as any other time, she took a deep breath (still unable to ignore the heady warmth of his closeness and the spicy scent that was uniquely his), cleared her head and smiled sweetly up at him.  
  
He swallowed hard as that smile sent his temperature rocketing towards the stratosphere and for a split second any snide remarks or trademark comments about their quest for the jewel that had been waiting in line on the tip of his tongue fell back, unsaid. But a split second was all Kagome needed to worm her way out of his grasp and the next moment InuYasha found a shiny package being shoved into his hands. He silently cursed her for the way she smiled, the way she smelled, the way she moved, the way she laughed the way she.the way she was. Lately, whenever she was near, it was a miracle of fate that he just happened to wear baggy pants. She did things to his mind and body that no one ever had, not even Kikiyo. She was loud, strange, stubborn, proud, willful, pushy, and annoying. He didn't understand it, and that pissed him off. She made his blood boil, with anger one minute, and with something else entirely the next. But he'd be damned before he let her know that, so he set a pouting scowl on his face and did his best to look annoyed and disinterested in the shiny gift in his claws.  
  
"Here you go! Merry Christmas, everyone!" she announced cheerily as she passed out gifts. There was a moments hesitation, but at Kagome's prompting, they ripped off the wrapping paper with varying degrees of voracity. Shippo got a sketch book and a box of crayons with every color imaginable (one of the big ones). Sango got a bath kit with scented soaps, body sprays and even some barrettes for her hair. Kirara got some special shampoo for cats and some cat toys. Miroku got a girl's swimwear magazine and a small bead kit to repair the prayer beads around his Wind Tunnel. Kaede got a new bag for her herbs, complete with some first aide supplies, and a pocket book of home remedies. Everyone seemed pleased and thanked Kagome.  
  
Last but not least, InuYasha eyed his package warily, then opened it. There was lots of ramen, which lifted his sour mood considerably, but on top of that, there was a small envelope, and inside the envelope was a slip of paper that read "I Promise" in Kagome's handwriting. Confused, InuYasha turned to Kagome, who was currently examining Shippo's new crayons and trying to explain the difference between 'red orange' and 'orange red'.  
  
"Hey, Kagome, what's this all about?" he demanded, his tone guarded.  
  
Kagome looked down at the slip of paper for a moment, then let out a little, nervous sounding laugh, as though she was afraid she was being scolded. "Oh, well, it's a promise. I wasn't sure what else to get you," she admitted, smiling sheepishly.  
  
"I got that part, but a promise for what?" he prodded, irritated that she'd stated the obvious.  
  
"Well, whenever I want to go home and you want me to stay and hunt for jewel shards, we get in an argument," she explained, biting her lip a bit, "so I'm giving you a promise for Christmas. You keep that piece of paper with you and when I want to go home and you want me to stay, you give me the piece of paper in exchange I'll stay, no argument, no "s" word, nothing."  
  
InuYasha's eyebrows shot up in surprise. It was true, he hated it when Kagome left the feudal era, even for only a day or two, but the jewel was a minimal part of that. Just the knowledge that she was nearby made the world seem like a brighter place, and when she left, it was all he could do to wait idly by until she returned. Each time she wished to return home for school or some such nonsense, he fought her all the way. Aside from disliking her absence, there was that nagging fear that one day, the portal through time might close, trapping him as far from her as he could possibly be. To be able to keep her near with out being pounded into the dirt or screamed at until his ears bled would be a treat indeed. Did she really realize what kind of gift she was giving him?  
  
"What's the catch?" he questioned, his tone cautious and a bit accusatory.  
  
Kagome rolled her eyes and sighed, "There is no catch, it's your Christmas present. Enjoy it."  
  
"Feh," was the best InuYasha could muster in the way of thanks. Kagome didn't mind. That was InuYasha, it was enough for her.  
  
"Kagome, what is Christmas?" Shippo inquired, popping up on top of InuYasha's head.  
  
"It's a holiday in my era. It's actually a Christian holiday to celebrate the birth of the son of God, but we still like to celebrate it in my family. We bring a tree inside our house and decorate it with lights and shiny ornaments and it's called a Christmas tree," Kagome smiled at the rapt look on Shippo's face as he tried to wrap his mind around the image of a glowing tree inside Kagome's house and decided to pass on another tradition. After all, what could it hurt? "And on Christmas Eve, Santa Claus comes down the chimney and leaves toys for children that have been good all year long."  
  
"Santa Claws? Is he a human or a demon? He sounds scary! Why does he come in through the chimney?" Shippo was enthralled.  
  
Kagome laughed. "He's a human, I think. He's really big and he wears a read suit and his laugh sounds like "Ho, Ho, Ho!""  
  
Shippo was quiet for a moment before his eyes lit up. "So Santa Claws is just like InuYasha! Except for the laughing part-do you even know how to laugh InuYasha?"  
  
"Lay off, brat!" InuYasha growled, and was about to pound the little fox into the ground when he noticed the weird look on Kagome's face. "What's your problem?"  
  
Kagome's face twisted up with suppressed laughter as an image of InuYasha dressed as Santa formed in her mind just before she broke down in giggles.  
  
"Hey, wench, what's your problem?" InuYasha demanded as she sat down against the wall of the hut, laughing out loud by now.  
  
"No..sorry." she gasped between giggles, ".it's just..just..you..as Santa!" she fell into a helpless fit of laughter. As he looked down at her there, with her shining eyes and her face lit with genuine mirth, he felt a bubble of warmth rise in his chest, and with out realizing it, he let a little smile creep onto his face. This girl-no woman, there was no denying it-was sunshine, warmth and life and light.  
  
After a moment, Kagome had produced a magazine from her ungodly huge backpack and was showing everyone what a picture of Santa Claus looked like from a Coca Cola ad. InuYasha pouted.  
  
But when the laughter had died down and the climate of the room had returned to normal, InuYasha heard Kagome murmur, mostly to herself, "Yeah, but what Christmastime is really truly about is being with the people you care about most."  
  
~*~  
  
The first thing InuYasha noticed when he woke up was that the sun was shining brightly. The next was a shift in the wind. The third was Kagome's scent. It was faint and cold. His eyes widened then narrowed as he leapt from his perch on the branch and landed on the porch of the hut. Inside the others were just waking up.  
  
"Where is she?" he demanded loudly, causing Shippo to start awake, look up, yawn and go back to sleep, "Who told her she could leave?"  
  
"According to this," Miroku announced, sleepily scanning the note he'd found minutes earlier, "no one actually told her she could go home."  
  
InuYasha grabbed the note out of Miroku's hands and tried to read it. It was then that he angrily remembered how difficult it was to read Kagome's writing, since it was slightly different from the bit of reading and writing his mother had taught him as a child. Pride wounded, he thrust it back into Miroku's palm, demanding that he read it.  
  
With a sigh, Miroku read the note aloud, deciding not to comment on InuYasha's hastiness. It was too early.  
  
The note read:  
  
Hi Everybody!  
  
Sorry if I worried you, but I'm fine. I had to go home to help my mom with her Christmas party. It is important to me to be with my family for Christmas, so I had to make sure I got home in time and I didn't want to wake anyone. I left you all some Christmas cookies and candy that my mom made. Make sure Shippo doesn't eat too much at once! I'll be back in a few days, I promise. Merry Christmas!  
  
Love, Kagome  
  
Miroku folded the note back up and all eyes turned to InuYasha, who had the strangest look on his face. Without saying a word he turned and walked out the door, his shoulders slumped slightly.  
  
"Uh-oh, is he going to go get Kagome?" Shippo yawned, flopping over on his belly and looking up at the three adults and the fire neko, "Shouldn't we try and stop him?"  
  
"Nay, child," Kaede replied, rising to start a fire in the hearth, "I do not believe InuYasha will go. His pride has been wounded, and his feelings hurt. Me thinks he wished for Kagome to spend her holiday here with us."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Miroku and Sango exchanged glances and Kaede smiled. "Ye will understand better when ye are grown, child," she assured.  
  
~*~  
  
Once outside, InuYasha didn't run or leap away. He just plodded along in no particular direction, wondering at the strange heaviness in his chest. This was different from the other times she left his era. The others never really credited him for thinking, but he wasn't as dense as they would have thought. He knew why she had left in the middle of the night. It was him she had been avoiding. He reached into his haori and pulled out the little piece of paper that Kagome had given him. She'd known he'd use this, so she'd just left without even saying goodbye.  
  
Today of all days, he had wanted her here. Tonight was the new moon, as Kagome called it, and he could practically feel his demon blood fading out of his reach for a whole night. He never felt safe when he turned human, but for some reason, having Kagome around made it seem not quite so horrible. And she had left him to face it alone once more. Without even saying goodbye.  
  
To his shock and horror, he felt tears prickling his eyes. Was he so weakened by her? Why should it matter to him if she left? Her words from the day before rang in his ears.  
  
What Christmastime is really truly about is being with the people you care about most.  
  
A tree trunk exploded in a burst of splinters as his fist connected with the bark. Did that mean she didn't care about him? He bit down on the inside of his cheek to keep those damnable tears at bay. Tears weren't his style, not since he'd watched his mother die. She didn't deserve his tears anyway. Did she? Of course not!  
  
The real fact of the matter was that Kagome had promised him that she would stay if he asked her just once, and then snuck off in the middle of the night to make sure that he couldn't ask her. She had tricked him, and that pissed him off! She was the most annoying, confusing, insufferable little bitch he could ever remember meeting, even if she was undeniably attractive and alluring in all her futuristic strangeness. So what was this tightening in his chest? What was this nagging worry that was gnawing at the back of his mind that she might one day just disappear down that well and never come back without saying good bye? What was this sensation of defeat and betrayal that made him want to shake her and hold her all at once?  
  
Unimportant! All that was important right now was that Kagome had tricked him and she wasn't going to get away with it. That fuel added to the fire, he dashed off in the direction of the well. He'd been brooding nearly all day, so as he took a powerful leap, rocketing into the sky, he was no more than a shadow against the late afternoon sun, before plummeting back to earth and landing a few feet from the well. He was about to jump over the lip when he noticed a spot of white against the dirty rocks of the well. Yanking it free, he found it was a note from Kagome addressed to him. Once again he found he couldn't read it, but that was alright. She could read it to him after he was done yelling at her. So, note in hand and visions of vengeance dancing in his head, he hopped over the lip of the well and through time and space, bright light flashing as he moved 500 years into the future.  
  
~*~  
  
Kagome paused to stare out the window at the fat flurries of snow that had covered the ground in several inches already. Once again her thoughts had strayed to InuYasha. She'd left that note, but it wasn't until she'd been home for several hours that she remembered how much trouble he had reading her writing. She sighed as her shoulders slumped. It had been a dumb idea anyway. Her mother came up beside her, laying hand on her shoulder and giving her a warm smile.  
  
"Looks like it'll be a white Christmas after all," Mrs. Higurashi observed, setting a tray of food on the table, "Thanks for coming home for Christmas, Kagome, it means a lot to me and Jii-chan and Sota. It just wouldn't be the same without you."  
  
Kagome smiled up at her mom. "I know mom, I couldn't see spending Christmas anywhere else."  
  
The sound of the door bell got their attention just as Sota bolted to answer it. He was immediately bowled over as Yuki, Eri and Ayumi practically stampeded into the house in search of Kagome.  
  
"Hey, are you guys in a hurry or something?" Kagome laughed as Ayumi actually peeked under a pillow on the couch.  
  
"Oh, Kagome!" Eri cried, "Come on, we have to get you ready!"  
  
"Ready? For what? Guys?" Kagome was getting worried. There was only one thing that got these three this worked up, and she had a sinking feeling she knew just what-or more accurately 'who'-it was.  
  
"Hojo!" the three girls cried in unison, grabbing her and practically dragging her up the stairs.  
  
"See," Yuki explained, "Your Jii-chan invited Hojo's mom to the Christmas party and-"  
  
"-and Hojo wanted to go with you to the Christmas party at school," Eri continued, "but we told him that you were still recovering from the ring worm-"  
  
"-and he heard that you were helping your mom host her big Christmas party this year!" Ayumi finished.  
  
That sinking feeling in Kagome's stomach hit rock bottom. "So that means-"  
  
"He's coming tonight!!!" her three friends proclaimed in stereo as they burst through the door to Kagome's room and started digging through her closet and drawers, searching for the perfect outfit.  
  
"Oh, and look what I brought!" Yuki grinned, pausing in her mad dash around the room to pull something out of her hand bag. It was a little bunch of green leaves with some bright red berries bound in the middle, "Mistletoe!!!"  
  
Kagome went white as a sheet. "What?!"  
  
The three girls looked up at the panic in Kagome's voice.  
  
"Oh, gosh, Kagome, are you all right?" Ayume gasped.  
  
"Do you feel faint?" Eri asked, concern coloring her voice.  
  
"Don't get over excited Kagome!" Yuki admonished, "If you work yourself up too much, you won't be well enough to attend the party. You wouldn't want to miss your first kiss after all!"  
  
"First kiss!" the other two squealed. They all three started digging through her stuff again with a new found fervor, pausing only to order into the shower.  
  
As the hot water washed over her naked form, her mind raced and she tried to take stock of just what was going on. Hojo was coming to the Christmas party and Yuki had mistletoe. It didn't take a fortune teller to see her current future. She loved her friends, but those three could have built Rome in a day if it had to do with a cute boy. If they had it in her head that she was going to kiss Hojo under the mistletoe tonight, nothing short of Armageddon would stop them from making it happen. Why was she so worried? She should be excited! It was her first kiss, after all! But for some reason, she just felt wrong inside.  
  
She knew that part of it was that she just didn't return Hojo's feelings. There was no reason in the world why she shouldn't, he was popular, attractive, charming and above all, he seemed to be crazy about her. Any girl should be head over heals, and she could name more than a few that were. But not her. Perhaps the planets had aligned with a black hole on the day she was born or something, but she just didn't like Hojo that way.  
  
On top of that, there was the kiss itself to consider. Kagome was not the kind of girl to sit around and daydream about boys, but she had to admit there were times when she would get lost in thought, as the group was walking along in silence on the hunt for shards, at night when she couldn't sleep, at school during a lecture. She couldn't help but wonder. The problem came when her friends asked her about her daydreams, after sharing their own of course, and she couldn't tell them about them. Because the truth was, in her darkest little dreams, she wanted her first kiss to be with InuYasha. But it was nothing more than a dream, she knew. Even if she thought her friends would allow her to continue with her 'violent, jealous boyfriend', InuYasha was well out of her reach, and well within Kikiyo's capable clutches. There was no logical reason why InuYasha would ever be interested in her, an awkward teenage girl who was still growing into herself, when he had an older, wiser, prettier and far more powerful and graceful version ready to claim him at a whim.  
  
A shock of cold water roused her from her thoughts and she realized just how long she'd been in the shower. Twisting the knobs hastily, she stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around her dripping form and turned the knob. And ran right into InuYasha.  
  
~*~  
  
Upon reaching Kagome's side of the well, InuYasha had tried to simply leap out of the well, only to find that his demon strength had already left him. Glancing down at his claws in the dimness of the well, he felt more than saw the sharp claws retract into dull fingernails, accompanied by the itching sensation as his ears shifted to the sides of his head. He couldn't see or feel it, but he knew that his hair had lost it's silver and had faded into inky blackness, just as his eyes clouded from their usual golden amber to a deep violet. For InuYasha, turning human was like going deaf and blind and losing all sense of smell. He'd grown more used to it over the years, but it was always a little disturbing.  
  
So, feeling more than a little weakened in his current human state, InuYasha pulled himself up the ladder and into the well house, before exiting onto the shrine grounds. At any other time he would simply have leapt onto Kagome's window ledge, since she always kept the window unlocked. Just in case, she had once said, and he'd never really understood what she meant by it. Now, however, gazing up at the warm glow of the lamplight from the snowy ground below, he realized he'd never be able to climb up to it, so he plodded around the house until he reached the front door. When he couldn't get it open, he gave it a few bangs. A little click sounded from the other side before the door swung in, leaving Sota in its place. The little boy gaped.  
  
"Is that you, InuYasha?" Sota wondered aloud, his eyes as big as saucers.  
  
"Who else, kid?" he huffed, "Where's Kagome?"  
  
Sota ignored him. "Where are your ears and claws? What happened to your hair and your eyes? Dude, what *happened* to you?"  
  
InuYasha grabbed the kid by the collar of his shirt and lifted him a little way off the ground, proving that even without his demon blood, he was still a force to be reckoned with. "Where's Kagome?" he growled again, feeling slightly the fool at how human the growl sounded.  
  
Sota didn't seem all too disturbed either way however. "I think she's upstairs in the shower," he answered as InuYasha released him, "But I wouldn't go up there if I were you. Her friends are up there. Those girls are scary."  
  
InuYasha rolled his eyes. "Come on kid," he scoffed, "I think I can handle a few little girls."  
  
-____-*  
  
He leapt up the stairs at a dead run, intent on kicking Kagome's girlfriends out and having a few unkind words with her. What he did not intend was for the door to the bathroom to open quite so suddenly, or to be bowled over by someone emerging. Bodies collided and he instinctively reached out and grabbed the offender's wrist.  
  
Kagome yelped in surprise as he over gauged his strength and she was pulled up against him. She looked up to see an equal amount of surprise in his violet eyes. For all his expectations of strangeness of this time, he had never considered running headlong into Kagome in such a state of..undress.  
  
"InuYasha-"  
  
"Kagome-"  
  
They both swallowed hard as Kagome looked down at what she was currently wearing-or not wearing, to be more accurate-and was suddenly painfully aware that she was covered, just barely, by only a thin blue towel. She looked up and was suddenly falling into those darkly beautiful eyes. InuYasha was also painfully aware of their compromising closeness, but in a whole different way. Thank fate for baggy fire rat hakama.  
  
"Ahem."  
  
They jumped apart as though burned, their faces redder than InuYasha's haori and searched guiltily for the source of the interruption. Yuki stood flanked by Ayumi and Eri, hands on her hips, looking expectantly at the two. As the sudden surprise of bumping into InuYasha wore off, Kagome looked down at herself, looked up at InuYasha, shrieked something unintelligible at him and stormed into her room, still clutching tightly at the towel as though clinging to the last shreds of her modesty and dignity.  
  
Yuki waited until Kagome had slammed the door, then turned to InuYasha. "So you must be Kagome's jerk boyfriend," she proclaimed accusatorily.  
  
Boyfriend?!? He didn't know much about Kagome's time and her customs, but she had once explained 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' to Shippo, and InuYasha had overheard. Boyfriend?!?  
  
The look on his face resembled the time he'd accidentally swallowed a water bug, eyes wide, face pale. His mouth worked as he tried to form some kind of intelligent response, but nothing came out.  
  
"Don't you try to play innocent with us!" Eri scowled, "We know all about what a jerk you are to Kagome!"  
  
"That's right," Yuki agreed, "after all of the times you've broken her heart, you don't deserve her! She deserves a nice guy! Not some punk!" Yuki and Eri turned up their noses and stalked into Kagome's room after her.  
  
Ayumi looked over her shoulder at InuYasha as she turned to follow them. The poor boy looked completely dumbfounded, so she stopped. "Those two are convinced that Kagome is going to end up with Hojo," she began, noting the look of saddened confusion in his eyes before she continued, "but they just don't notice the look on her face when she talks about you. She really cares about you, InuYasha, so you'd better be good to her." With that, she turned on her heal and was gone through Kagome's door before he could blink.  
  
InuYasha's anger was not forgotten, but it felt like someone had thrown a wet blanket on it for the time being, and now it was all confusion. The girl's words rang in his ears. Kagome..cared? About him? She talked about him? She called him her boyfriend? He blinked once, then blinked again, but nothing made any sense. He probably would have stood there all night if not for Kagome's mother.  
  
"Is that really you, InuYasha?" Mrs. Higurashi greeted, amiably approaching in an attempt to search for the hanyou's currently absent dog ears. This must have been what Kagome was talking about when she spoke of the 'changes' during the new moon. "What are you doing here?"  
  
The haze of surprise was evaporating, and he blurted out, "I came to see Kagome," but caught himself before saying more.  
  
"Oh, how nice!" Mrs. Higurashi smiled, "Kagome was so worried about leaving you to come home for Christmas."  
  
"She was?"  
  
"Well, then, you must stay for the party!" Mrs. Higurashi proclaimed, ignoring his question, "But everyone will be here any minute, so we've no time to get you something proper to wear," she mused. "Oh I know!"  
  
Grabbing InuYasha by the wrist, she dragged him down the hall and threw open the hall closet, then proceeded to dig through some boxes. She glanced over her shoulder, sizing InuYasha up, then came away with some clothes.  
  
"These were my husband's," she explained, handing the bundle of clothing to InuYasha, "They should fit you alright." She the ushered him into the room at the end of the hall, explaining along the way how to put on each article before closing the door behind him.  
  
~*~  
  
Ayumi closed the door quietly behind her. "So that was InuYasha, huh?" she asked Kagome, who was currently wrapping a second towel around her dripping black hair.  
  
Kagome turned back to find three sets of eyes burning into her. "What?"  
  
"He didn't seem so bad. Didn't talk much at all."  
  
"Well, he's not too eloquent, but he makes up for it with that body! But what on earth was he wearing?"  
  
"He can't be here, Hojo is coming! He'll ruin everything!"  
  
Kagome heard these things whirling around in her head as her friends gossiped about her "boyfriend". She herself was still recovering from the shock of seeing InuYasha, in human form, in her house, on Christmas Eve, and her wearing nothing but a towel and a smile. But the last statement burst the bubble of her stupor.  
  
"Come on, you guys," she sighed as she finished scrubbing the water off her body and pulled on her panties and hooked her bra behind her back, "you've gotta cut that out."  
  
Yuki frowned. "Cut what out, Kagome?"  
  
Kagome sighed again, pulling the towel away from her now just damp hair and digging a brush into it. "Think about it. Of all the times Hojo has asked me out, how many times have I accepted?"  
  
Eri shrugged. "A few times, what's your point?"  
  
Kagome shook her head, then began twisting her hair up into a little bun to be fastened with a pair of red chopsticks. "No, girls, I have never accepted his invitations. Every time he asks me out, you girls always have a hand in my going." She turned her head this way and that, examining her handy work before carefully pulling the low cut, form fitting red shirt that her friends had picked out over her head. It had a little print on the left top corner of a pair of jingle bells with holly sprigs. She turned away from the mirror in search of a pair of black, curve hugging pants, glancing up at her friends, who seemed dumbstruck. "Guys, I'm just not interested in Hojo. He's a great person, and he's always been sweet and kind to me, and that's why it would be wrong to keep leading him on."  
  
She fastened a thin gold belly chain around her waist, and hooked a pair of simple little gold hoops on her ears. She gave herself a quick once over in the mirror, applied a bit of lip gloss and turned to her friends.  
  
"So I'm not going to kiss Hojo under the mistletoe tonight. Okay?" She smiled a little at the look of pure and total amazement on her friends faces.  
  
Yuki recovered first. "This is all about InuYasha, isn't it?" she accused, "You were so excited before he showed up, and now you're not even interested. You deserve much better than some violent, possessive jerk that has no regard for your feelings!"  
  
"She's right," Eri rejoined, "I know you must think it's exciting to date a dangerous punk, but you'll be so much happier in the end if you find a nice boy like Hojo. We're just looking out for you."  
  
Ayumi said nothing, but she refused to meet Kagome's eyes.  
  
"Look, girls, lets just drop this, there's no reason to start a fight on Christmas Eve," Kagome said hopefully.  
  
"Whatever," Yuki huffed, "We'll be downstairs when you're ready to listen to reason."  
  
With that, the three girls went downstairs to mingle with the other guests that were arriving, mostly just some people that her mother knew and worked with. Kagome vaguely wondered where InuYasha had gone to, but she was sure her mother would intercept him. She trusted her mother to take care of him for the time being. Plopping down on her bed, she pulled her necklace out from under her pillow and stared at the fragmented jewel, turning it over in her hand. Gazing into the fractured, faceted depths of the shining gem always helped her throw things into perspective.  
  
She was a teenage girl leading a double life. On one hand, she was a regular school girl, battling teachers and tests and trying to figure out what romance is. On the other, she was a young miko, full of untapped powers who regularly traveled 500 years into the past to battle demons and remake a legendary jewel, and trying to figure out what romance is. She had seen bloody battles and mangled corpses, had sent demons shrieking back to hell and looked into the face of death. Surely she could face one single boy's disappointment and the disapproval of three teenage girls.  
  
With renewed confidence, she hopped off of the bed and headed downstairs.  
  
~*~  
  
InuYasha tugged at the cuff of the shirt once again. These clothes were much closer fitting than his usual haori and hakama, but Mrs. Higurashi had taken one appraising look at him and assured him that he looked *very* nice. The shirt was a burgundy color and buttoned up the front, with long sleeves that cuffed at the wrist so that he couldn't fold his arms into them as he was accustomed to. He also wore a pair of black dress pants, with the shirt tucked inside, and a pair of black shoes that he was beginning to detest for their confinement. Mrs. Higurashi had insisted on brushing his hair, and now, tangle free, it shown in the warm light of the family room.  
  
The room was filled with humans, mostly middle aged or older as humans go, all talking, laughing eating from small trays set here and there and drinking a thick white drink that he'd heard called 'egg nog'. A few of them had greeted him with a nod or a smile and a "Merry Christmas", but no one had really approached him. That was one thing that he'd always been good at, not drawing attention to himself in crowds. He liked to remain unnoticed when in human form, and he was grateful for the habit now. He had no idea what to tell any of these people if they should ask about who he was or where he was from, as he was fairly sure Kagome would not appreciate her whole village knowing about the secret of the well. Nor did he really think they would believe it. He'd been told time and again that demons didn't exist in this era, at least not openly. Better just to sit back and wait for Kagome, she would undoubtedly have a thing or two to say before she sent him packing off down the well again, and he had a thing or two to say to her as well.  
  
He noticed Kagome's three friends bounding down the stairs and greeting a few people here and there, but they passed him right by in an obvious attempt to ignore him. Well, that was fine with him. One girl, however, the one that had last spoken to him, glanced at him as she passed by and he thought that maybe he saw a bit of a smile in her eyes. What was that all about?  
  
He leaned idly against a wall, watching the three suspiciously. He noticed one of the three, the loudest, he thought, discreetly tacked some kind of green plant with red berries over one of the doorways. These future girls were strange.  
  
His attention was diverted, however, as Kagome came bounding down the stairs, smiling as she was greeted by an old couple and exchanging pleasantries for a moment. He tried to push off the wall to go over to her, but found himself suddenly arrested by the look of her there, talking amiably and laughing politely. She was so perfect, a wonderful woman. He couldn't take his eyes off her, even as her face turned in his direction and their eyes met. For a moment the world disappeared as her smile softened and warmed, from the polite little grin she'd given the others to something real. He blinked and then willed himself to do something, to go over to her, to speak, or at least to look away, but nothing happened. He was her prisoner just then, but for all the times he'd fought for freedom from the prisons of his life, it felt right that she should be his captor now. He loved her. The realization both shocked and comforted him, but he wasn't one to over analyze himself or his emotions. He merely felt, and right now he felt warm and so very good.  
  
"Higurashi!" a voice cut through the euphoria of the moment, and Kagome's head jerked away from InuYasha to search for the owner. The spell was broken, and he began to approach her, but stopped short as he saw just whom she was now talking with. The young man with brown hair and a confident smile was acting rather familiar with Kagome. A twisting in his chest caught him unaware and he suddenly felt as though someone had hit him in the stomach.  
  
This was another reason he hated being human. All of these emotions affected him in different ways. Normally he would have simply stormed over to the boy and thrown him through the nearest wall for daring to stand so close to Kagome, for putting his hand on her shoulder, for smiling at her like that, and he wanted to right now. But he couldn't. An incapacitating ache filled him and he let his head hang as he turned away, unable to bear the sight of his Kagome with another man.  
  
~*~  
  
Yuki and Eri exchanged glances as they saw InuYasha turn away from where Kagome and Hojo were standing. He'd had the strangest look on his face. Was this really the violent, overly jealous, possessive guy Kagome had described? He seemed so..well, so not violent, not overly jealous and not possessive. And above all, he seemed sad. He looked so lonely standing in the corner by himself, that look of defeat marring his perfect face.  
  
Ayumi also saw it and that was the final straw. She turned to Yuki and Eri. "Eri, you know how you're always saying what a total freak your little brother is when he makes you angry?"  
  
Eri gave her a questioning look but nodded. "Yeah, so?"  
  
"So I think Kagome does that too, but not about her little brother," she explained. Yuki opened her mouth to say something, then shut it again and looked over to where InuYasha stood. Ayumi followed her gaze, eyebrows knitting at the downcast look on his face. "I think we may have made a mistake."  
  
~*~  
  
"Higurashi!"  
  
Kagome's body reflexively whipped around at the sound of her name and there stood Hojo.  
  
When she'd come down the stairs, Kagome had been prepared for just about anything, but she had not been prepared to see InuYasha, dressed nicely in modern clothes and looking even more gorgeous than normal, gazing at her from across the room with the softest look on his face. The world had dissolved and for a moment it had just been the two of them there, the lights and laughter of the room mere background static against the conduit of electric connection that made her limbs tingle.  
  
She had been pleasantly surprised when he didn't look away. She'd also surprised herself when she didn't feel her customary butterflies. Rather she'd felt a secure warmth wash over her, flushing her. She sighed. This was love. She'd suspected it, but right then she knew it.  
  
The idea was preposterous, of course, that she could ever be with him, but right then, all those little whispers of doubt and impossibility, the warnings accompanied by the memory of his arms wrapped around Kikiyo, of the jewel, of him telling her off, had faded in that warmth. She'd felt her smile soften as she melted at the idea that he could return her feelings. Even if it were only a dream for tonight. And the look on his face had only served to boost the euphoric rush. He'd looked like he was seeing her for the first time all over again, not as a cowering little girl running from a monster, but as a woman. For that moment, all the world had been right.  
  
Now she was standing in front of Hojo, a bit too close for comfort, trying to scan the room over his broad shoulders.  
  
"You look beautiful this evening, Kagome," he smiled, "Are you feeling better? Your jii-chan told us about that nasty case of ringworm. Everything alright?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm feeling much better," she replied with a polite smile.  
  
"That's great!" he said enthusiastically, placing a hand on her shoulder and inching closer. Kagome looked up and met his eyes. He was smiling intently down at her and then that sinking feeling was back. The stark contrast hit her like a brick. It wasn't like looking into InuYasha's eyes. There was no warmth and certainty and rightness, only a nervous knot in the pit of her stomach that shouldn't have been there, even if she didn't love Hojo. This was wrong.  
  
"Um, Kagome, I-" he stopped short, looking flustered and blushing furiously. He had decided that tonight was the perfect time to kiss her, and by gods he was going to do it! Well, no time like the present.  
  
He was leaning closer now, but she was powerless to stop him. She was frozen, like a mouse before the reaching talons of a hawk, as though she had stepped out of her body and was watching his lips lower towards hers. For a moment she was a bit put off. They weren't even standing under the mistletoe! He could have waited that long!  
  
Suddenly, at the last second, she regained control of her faculties. His eyes had slid closed, but they fluttered open as she placed a soft hand on his lips, stopping his advance. The question in his eyes was colored with confusion and hurt. This would be harder than she thought.  
  
~*~  
  
InuYasha was about to go look for Mrs. Higurashi to ask for his clothes back so he could leave when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning, he came face to face with Ayumi.  
  
"Hey, why the sad face?" she asked, as though she didn't know, "It's Christmas, after all."  
  
InuYasha was a bit surprised that one of the girls that had seemed to detest him so now seemed almost friendly. "It's nothing," he muttered, turning away. But there was no escape in that direction either, for there stood Yuki and Eri. He was surrounded, but they didn't seem about to attack. To the contrary, they looked a bit guilty.  
  
"Look," Yuki muttered, "We're sorry about all that stuff we said." He gave her a suspicious look, but she went on. "Kagome's the sweetest girl, but sometimes she loses her temper," she started.  
  
At this, InuYasha gave a derisive little snort, reaching up to finger the rosary around his neck. "You're telling me," he muttered with a little half smile.  
  
"Well, she once told us that you were totally jealous, violent and possessive," Eri rejoined, "We all assumed that it was true without remembering her tendency to exaggerate."  
  
InuYasha gave her a hard look. "Well she's right," he told them, "Where I come from, you've got to be a bit violent to survive. And as for being jealous.." His shoulders slumped as he admitted, "Well, who wouldn't be? Just look at her."  
  
The three girls exchanged meaningful glances.  
  
"Well, what are you doing skulking over here?" Yuki demanded, earning his surprise, "Get your butt over there and tell her that!"  
  
"Feh," InuYasha turned up his nose, "Why should I? Last I looked she was having a good ol' time with that pretty boy."  
  
Ayumi smiled at the tough guy attitude. This was more of the guy they had all expected. "Because," she answered him, "If you don't, it will solve nothing. If you ignore her and try to pretend like you don't care, will that make you happy?" The question wasn't accusatory or argumentative, which gave him cause to actually consider it; it really wouldn't make him happy to ignore Kagome. "Kagome never quits talking about you, InuYasha, and we can tell that you can't stop thinking of her, so it seems pretty stupid for the two of you to sit here in the same room, on Christmas Eve, thinking about one another alone."  
  
InuYasha had considered this, but it made a hell of a lot more sense coming from this girl. He nodded absently, earning smiles from all three.  
  
Suddenly, InuYasha's eyes narrowed. "What is it with you three? One minute you're telling me off, the next you're my best friends. What gives?"  
  
Yuki shrugged. "We're just looking out for Kagome."  
  
InuYasha nodded. Not so different from what he did, taking care of her in the feudal era. Just looking out for her. But he'd come to see she didn't always need looking out for. For the first time all night, he offered them a genuine little smile.  
  
"I'm glad," he conceded, "but give her a bit of credit. She's a lot tougher than anyone gives her credit for, including me sometimes. I think she can take care of herself."  
  
With that, he pushed past them and went in search of Kagome.  
  
~*~  
  
"Wait, Hojo, please," she murmured, looking away and drawing her hand away from his face, "I just can't."  
  
"Kagome? Is something wrong? Is everything alright?"  
  
"No," she sighed, taking a step back to put some distance between them, "Hojo I don't know how to say this, so I'm just gonna say it. I can't go out with you anymore."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean what I said. I've known for a while that I just don't feel that way about you, and I can't keep leading you on. You're a great guy and you deserve better than that." She swallowed hard, hating herself as his face fell. "I've tried to figure out why I don't have feelings for you, and I can't even understand it myself," she admitted, "Your any girl's dream guy." she trailed off.  
  
He offered her a sad little smile. "Just not yours," he finished for her, watching her bite down on her lower lip. He understood completely because it was the opposite for him. He wasn't totally dense, he could see how the girls at school looked at him. There were a million girls that were more popular, more glamorous and stylish, even a few more attractive. There was no reason in the world for him to have such feelings for her, he just did. There was no logic to it. By rights, it should be her in love with him and him rejecting her. But then, when did love have anything to do with logic?  
  
"Listen, Kagome, don't worry about it," he said gently, "I know where you're coming from better than you think. Sometimes these things don't work out. I'm just glad you trusted me enough to tell me. Thanks for being honest with me." With that he turned around and was gone.  
  
Kagome just stood there for a second before it registered that she'd just broken up with Hojo, Mr. Popular. She could practically here her friends yelling at her already. At least he'd taken it well, or so it seemed. She still felt a bit shaky though, so she headed for the kitchen. She'd sit down for a while, have a glass of water and collect herself before she went to find InuYasha in the crowd of her mother's friends that had grown to a respectable size in under a half an hour. But it was not to be.  
  
"Hey, Kagome, where do you think you're going?" InuYasha asked, catching her by the arm and stopping her in the doorway to the kitchen.  
  
"Oh, InuYasha, there you are," she smiled, "Listen, I'm so sorry about leaving last night, I just-"  
  
"You just thought I'd use that promise you gave me, so you made sure I couldn't," he finished knowingly, crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
Kagome nodded guiltily and looked away. No point in denying it. "Are you angry with me?" she asked a bit absently.  
  
"I was," he admitted, to Kagome's surprise, "but not really anymore. So who was that guy?"  
  
Oh boy, she thought, here we go. "That was Hojo," she told him, then hurried on before he had a chance to say anything, "I was just clearing some stuff up. He wanted to date me, but I told him I couldn't."  
  
InuYasha actually felt like jumping up and down from relief and joy. Instead, he blurted out "Why?" then bit his tongue at his own stupidity.  
  
"Why?" Kagome was surprised, she hadn't expected more than a grunt in reply, maybe a snide remark, but not actual interest, "Well, I just couldn't keep leading him on. He's a good guy, but he's not the one I want."  
  
"Oh," was the best InuYasha could muster, then "who do you want?"  
  
Kagome blinked at him, stunned by his brazenness and opened her mouth in an attempt to answer. But before she could get anything out, there was a voice behind her.  
  
"Ooh, Kagome and InuYasha under the mistletoe!" Sota laughed.  
  
Kagome scowled down at him. "How do you know about mistletoe?"  
  
Wait..mistletoe? Her eyes widened and she looked up. Sure enough, there it was, the same little bundle Yuki had brought, right over their heads.  
  
"What's mistletoe?" InuYasha wondered aloud.  
  
"It's just a stupid tradition," Kagome explained, flustered.  
  
"I heard about it from my friend's big sister," Sota explained studiously, "When a boy and girl stand under the mistletoe at Christmas time, they have to kiss. It's practically a law," he added matter-of-factly.  
  
"Shut up, Sota," Kagome muttered, her face growing hot.  
  
InuYasha looked up at the mistletoe, then looked at the little boy to make sure he wasn't just making it up. He seemed genuine. Well, what could it hurt? If she used the "s" word on him for it, at least he could blame it on her brother. That in mind, he reached up, and tilted her chin up. Before she could think to protest, he lowered his head and kissed her full on the lips, letting his eyes slide closed for just a second and savoring the tingling sensation of their warmth before drawing back quickly so that she was out of slapping range. Sota just shook his head and wandered away.  
  
After a moment, he dared to glance down at her. Her face was blank, but her eyes were big as dinner plates with question.  
  
"Mistletoe," he muttered lamely, then, to save himself, "You never answered my question."  
  
She blinked once, then again, and then she pounced. Throwing her arms around his neck for support, she shot up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his as firmly as she could while maintaining her balance. Fortunately for her, after an initial moment of surprise, he lowered his head and returned it.  
  
When she pulled away, his head was swimming in the most delicious way and he could feel himself breathing heavily.  
  
Kagome, for her part, would later plead insanity, because she never would have been so bold if she weren't slightly touched in the head. As she tried to catch her own breath, she said, "That's all the answer you're getting for now," before escaping into the kitchen for that much needed glass of water. She could hardly believe what she'd just done. She had kissed InuYasha. Her first kiss!!! With InuYasha! She sighed dreamily. She didn't care if her friends disowned her right now, she was on cloud nine. After a moment she peeked her head around the corner to find InuYasha still standing stock still in the door way, two fingers resting idly on his lips, as though making sure they were still there.  
  
"Unless you want every woman in the house to come kiss you, you'd better move," she warned with a laugh as he realized he was still standing under the mistletoe and bolted through the doorway. She sat down at the kitchen table, water in hand, and InuYasha sat next to her. Neither spoke. After all, what could they say?  
  
Then InuYasha remembered. "Hey, Kagome? I found this by the well. What is it?" he asked, pulling the note he'd found out of the pocket of his pants and handing it to her.  
  
She took it and smiled a little. "I wrote it before I remembered you couldn't read it," she admitted.  
  
"Maybe you could read it to me?" he offered.  
  
She gave a little laugh. Why not? Maybe, by some Christmas miracle, he wouldn't think she was nuts.  
  
"Sure, InuYasha," she conceded, then read aloud,  
  
"InuYasha,  
  
"Well, I guess you're angry with me. I don't blame you, what I did was sneaky, underhanded and unfair, and I'm sorry. I hope you find this note, not just because I want to apologize but also because I was hoping you might come to my house for Christmas. For me, Christmas has always been about showing the people you love how much you care about them. I couldn't see spending Christmas away from my family, but I can't stand the idea of not spending Christmas with you as well. You're important to me, InuYasha, and I care about you. I don't think you hear that often enough, but for my part, it's true. You may think I'm a bit nuts for writing all this, but that's okay. I just wanted to let you know that you are welcome at my house for Christmas, and I hope you'll consider spending it with me. If not, I'll see you in a few days.  
  
"Love, Kagome."  
  
She folded the paper and handed it back to him with a little smile and a shrug. He looked a bit lost for a moment, then turned to her. He was horrible with words, but he had to tell her. He had to tell her how he felt. He wanted to say so many things, but none of them sounded right. So he said the only thing that came to mind, the only thing that was really important.  
  
"You're important to me, too, Kagome. I care about you, too."  
  
His heart nearly leapt out of his chest at the smile she gave him. Then she held out her hand.  
  
"Come on, lets go back to the party," she offered, standing up as he hesitantly took it, "I'll introduce you to people as a friend of the family from up north. The party won't last too late, then you can go back if through the well if you like. Or, well, you could stay."  
  
InuYasha smiled down at her. "I'd like that," he replied, letting her lead him by the hand out through the kitchen doorway. She stopped only for a moment in the doorway, reaching up and giving him a little peck on the cheek as they paused under the mistletoe once more, before pulling him out into the living room. His cheeks were flaming red.  
  
~*~  
  
Ayumi approached the shrine entrance slowly, her feet crunching in the newly fallen snow, then sat down on the high stairs next to Hojo. His chin was propped in his hands and his elbows propped on his knees where he sat a few steps down, looking for all the world like his puppy had died. She offered him a sympathetic smile as she put a hand on his shoulder. He looked over at her and smiled a little.  
  
"Hey, Ayumi," he smiled half-heartedly.  
  
"Hey, Hojo," she replied, "Why the sad face? It's Christmas, after all."  
  
"Yeah, I know," he sighed, "I just don't think I can go back inside right now," he admitted.  
  
Ayumi smiled. "Yeah, I know what you mean, too many grown ups."  
  
"Not exactly what I meant," he sighed, sitting up straighter as he looked over at her.  
  
"I know," Ayumi replied with a little nod.  
  
"It's weird," he confided, "I really like Kagome, but now that she's told me I don't have a chance, I feel better than I thought I could. I think I just knew on some level, and now it's a relief to have it said out loud. Maybe it's better this way, but I just don't think I can face her right now anyway."  
  
Ayumi nodded and smiled at him. "Well then, there's nothing for it. I'll just have to keep you company," she informed him amiably, giggling at the look he gave her, "After all, no one should be alone on Christmas."  
  
"Nah, don't you wanna go inside and have an intellectual conversation with the grown ups?" he joked, and she giggled again, "Really, you don't have to stay out here in the cold just to keep me company."  
  
She shook her head. "I know, but I want to."  
  
He gave her a sideways glance, then a genuine smile. "Now how can I refuse an offer like that?" he inquired, taking her hand and interlacing their fingers. She smiled back at him as they fell into a comfortable silence, just watching the snow as it fell in gentle flurries from the night sky.  
  
~*~  
  
It was past midnight when Kagome showed the last guests to the door. Her great aunt Nikibi had been particularly taken with the "polite young man" (if only she knew -__-*) that had been trailing along after her little niece all evening, and to Kagome's horror, she'd found her, pestering InuYasha about whether he had proposed yet. However, once Kagome had finally convinced her it was time to go home and explained to InuYasha that he shouldn't take Aunt Nikibi seriously because she still thought it was 1978, the house was finally quiet and empty. One of Kagome's cousins had gotten a little bit tipsy from egg nog and rum, a decidedly foreign drink, but effective none the less, and Jii-chan had had to drive him home. Meanwhile, her mother was upstairs veritably nailing Sota's door shut so that he couldn't sneak downstairs to get into the presents early, before retiring herself. For the first time since the kitchen, Kagome and InuYasha were all alone in a suddenly very quiet house.  
  
In spite of herself, Kagome felt a little nervous about talking to InuYasha now that they had both spoken a bit of their feelings. But she stubbornly pushed that aside. Truth be told, she still felt a bit lightheaded, as though she had trailed off into a dream and was watching everything take place from behind a big glass window. It was disorienting, but delightful at the same time, a thrill ride of hormones and endorphins that turned her skin into an array of firing nerves, so that each brush of his skin against hers sent her reeling. Even now as they sat together on the couch, just the warmth of him so close made her dizzy. She vaguely wondered if she'd taken a sip of something with alcohol, but she had a feeling that this warmth in her blood had nothing to do with drinking.  
  
"It's been Christmas for 37 minutes," she sighed as she fell back onto the couch and stretched out, "Merry Christmas."  
  
InuYasha, who had managed to weasel his own clothes back from Mrs. Higurashi not long before, plopped down on the floor beside the couch near where her head was cradled by a throw pillow. They sat in silence for a moment before InuYasha broke it.  
  
"So what now?" he blurted out. Kagome looked at him blankly. "I mean, well, what do we do? It's kind of weird, you know?"  
  
Kagome gave him a little smile. She did, in fact, know exactly what he meant, but right now, it didn't seem so bad because for once she felt like she and InuYasha were on a level playing field. She sighed contentedly and gave him a level look.  
  
"Well, it seems to me that, being as it's Christmas, you should do as you please," she told him matter-of-factly, her serious face splitting into a grin as he gave her a wide eyed double take, "But as for me, right now I'm going to turn on a Christmas movie, then I'm going to sit here in the dark and watch it until I fall asleep." She sat up and patted the couch next to her, inviting the suddenly timid hanyou to sit next to her as she stood and popped "A Christmas Carol" into the tape player. "You're welcome to join me. But I guess that all depends, right?"  
  
InuYasha blinked at her. "Depends on what?"  
  
"On you, of course! It is Christmas, so what do you want to do?"  
  
She was giving him a little half smile that gave him the feeling he had somehow been tricked, but shrugged it off. Let her think she had the upper hand. It was Christmas, after all. He opened his mouth to answer her, but found his voice had left him. She raised her eyebrows and gave him a knowing look and a satisfied grin. Oh, that was just it! She was absolutely impossible! Totally insufferable! He'd show her!  
  
Kagome was feeling pretty high and mighty at the moment, watching InuYasha stumble around over some kind of come back to her blatant flirt. All her prowess was wiped out in an instant however as he rose to his feet in one swift motion and pulled her against him. Her knees turned to jello at the feeling of his breath on her face, which was now just millimeters from her own. In spite of his boldness, she could feel him trembling ever so slightly, and his apparent innocence caused something to flare inside her as her blood became liquid fire in her veins.  
  
"This," was all he said in reply to her haughty questioning before his lips were on hers. A heat wave rushed over their bodies, enflaming them both as Kagome's hands found his shoulders, pulling him closer. Her response caused the breath to rush out of him and he crushed her to him, wanting desperately to be closer to her, needing her down to his bones, and getting frustrated when he couldn't get her any tighter against him. But then the realization that Kagome was pressed firmly up against him, her mouth moving desperately against his, evaporated all other thought and his breath left him again.  
  
After a moment they pulled apart, both of their chest heaving as they gulped the air that had departed their lungs when each others' mere presence had become more important. InuYasha found himself wishing that he had his demon senses so that he could better catch that wonderful scent that was her, but realized after a moment that he was so close that he could still detect it, if not so strongly as normal. That, along with her closeness and the rush of endorphins that had bombarded him when their lips met caused a strange, wonderful feeling to grow inside him, expanding until his whole body felt warm and alive. It was a sense of rightness, of clarity. Little things, memories of their time together in the feudal era, tiny snippets of random thoughts all came together and culminated at this moment. This was right. He felt it in his soul. For the first time since his mother had held him as a child, he felt whole.  
  
Kagome saw the dreamy look in InuYasha's eyes and was about to ask him about it when he crushed her to him again, not in another kiss, but a fierce hug. Her head pressed against his chest as she returned it and she could hear his heart pounding. His eyes slid closed as he held her there and after a moment, so did hers. She sighed contentedly as he reached up and undid her bun, letting his hands run through her dark silk.  
  
"This is right," he murmured, and Kagome looked up at him and smiled warmly.  
  
"I know," she replied quietly. Absently she realized that the ghost of Jacob Marley was clanking its way across the TV screen. She reached up and ran a hand over InuYasha's cheek, just memorizing his face. The world had a funny way of messing things up. This might not last, in fact, the odds were against it. But for tonight, for this Christmas, he was hers, and no one could take that away.  
  
"Come on," she smiled, pulling away a little and leading him to the couch and motioning towards the screen, "we're gonna miss the movie."  
  
InuYasha smiled at her, sat down on the faded cushions and wrapped her in his arms again, pulling her into his embrace and just reveling in her presence. He knew how dangerous this was, and that it probably wouldn't last. His whole life was proof of how the world had its ways of ruining your plans. But if only just for the moment, just for this one Christmas, she was his, and nothing would take th at away from him.  
  
~*~  
  
Mrs. Higurashi felt a smile on her lips as Kagome settled down on the couch with InuYasha. From her hiding place by the stairs, she peeked over at her little girl, who had undoubtedly become a woman sometime while she'd had her back turned. Kagome's attention seemed fixed on the movie, but a little smile still lingered on her face. Mrs. Higurashi had a feeling they would be okay. When you're young, sometimes it seems like you own the world, sometimes it seems that the world owns you. But she had a feeling that the world was on their side this time. Besides, this was the time of year to believe in hope. It was Christmas after all.  
  
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A/N: So what did you think? Like? Dislike? Utterly detest? Tell me! Review, review, review! Later gater :)  
  
~Born of Elven Blood 


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